Bear Grylls-types rejoice: “Rugged” Galaxy S 4 images leak

Apparent spy shots show a red chassis and hardware buttons for "lifeproof" phone.

Late last month, we heard rumblings that Samsung planned to launch a water- and dustproof version of its Galaxy S 4 smartphone. The Wall Street Journal reported that this handset would be called the Galaxy S 4 Active, and now images of it have apparently been leaked. Though we were under the impression that it would look similar to the current Galaxy S 4 handsets out on the market, it appears that this “lifeproofing” will take on a bit of a different aesthetic.

The images were leaked by GSM Arena. They show a brightly colored red handset with black trimming that appears on either end on the back while framing the screen on the front. The touch-enabled navigational hardware buttons have been replaced with physical buttons. The phone features what looks like a 480 ppi display, which raises some questions about its actual display size. Rumors previously pointed to a 5-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display.

The photos also show an AnTuTu benchmark screen, which suggests that the phone features a quad-core ARMv7 processor as well as an Adreno 320 GPU. As we previously reported, the manufacturer of the SoC has not been the object of speculation. Samsung has usually produced at least two variants of each handset for different markets, so if this handset is targeted for the American market, it may include a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600. It's not clear whether it will share its other specifications with the standard Galaxy S 4 handset, like 2GB of RAM, a 2,600 mAh battery, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

No word on when we expect to see this handset, but it has apparently popped up in Croatia. This leads some to believe that an announcement is imminent.

Florence Ion / Florence was a former Reviews Editor at Ars, with a focus on Android, gadgets, and essential gear. She received a degree in journalism from San Francisco State University and lives in the Bay Area.